MANCHESTER United face a summer-long battle to hang on to the golden boy of England’s World Cup campaign as Barcelona prepare a massive bid for Wayne Rooney.
Barcelona are preparing a massive bid for Wayne Rooney
Double Footballer of the Year Rooney, 24, was last night with England’s squad in the Austrian Alps unaware Barcelona are already making discreet moves to take him to La Liga in an £80million deal.
It is an unwelcome development for United, who will not countenance such distractions after two successive summers of speculation surrounding the future of Cristiano Ronaldo.
He eventually left for Real Madrid at the end of last August .
England manager Fabio Capello will not receive the news warmly either, after insisting he wants none of his squad distracted by transfer negotiations while they are on national duty up until mid-July.
Barcelona’s interest in Rooney has uncanny similarities with Real’s pursuit of Ronaldo and football power on the pitch and politics off it are interwoven in their interest in him.
Europe’s most attractive side have been knocked off their perch by the Champions League semi-final defeat against Inter Milan and either Inter or Bayern Munich will
take their European Crown on Saturday night in Madrid. Coach Pep
Guardiola is keen to restore the side to the top immediately and will
seek reinforcements.
And that suits both the
current president Joan Laporta and the man who is clear favourite to
take the presidency in next month’s elections, Sandro Rosell.
Barca
have advanced plans to sign Valencia’s David Villa and Arsenal’s Cesc
Fabregas, but the real coup would be a successful move for Rooney.
Spanish sources say that would appeal to Laporta and Rosell.
The Barcelona camp have activated agents to sound out the possibility of a Rooney move.
They
know that he is happy at United but the chance for him to link up with
Lionel Messi – expected to be a World Cup star for Argentina alongside
England’s Rooney in South Africa – at the Nou Camp has massive appeal.
Rooney
is still under contract until 2012. So £80m for a 24-year-old of his
standing is realistic – had he only a year left on his agreement his
market value would fall significantly.
And
although United will publicly say they have no need to sell their
biggest asset, last summer’s sale of Ronaldo to Spanish football was
required to prevent the club posting a loss of more than £30m.
United
have since restructured their massive debt with a bond issue, but
another massive transfer offer may test the American Glazer family, who
own the club.
And some informed observers in
Spain consider the playing burden on Rooney since the departure of
Ronaldo and the failure of Dimitar Berbatov might persuade him to seek
a new challenge.
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